Retrato do autor

Ted Gioia

Autor(a) de The History of Jazz

17+ Works 1,830 Membros 26 Críticas 2 Favorited

About the Author

Ted Gioia is a music historian and the author of eleven books, including How to Listen to Jazz. His three previous books on the social history of music- Work Songs, Healing Songs, and Love Songs-have each been honored with the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Gioia's wide-ranging activities as a critic, mostrar mais scholar, performer, and educator have established him as a leading global guide to music past, present, and future. mostrar menos

Includes the name: Ted Gioia

Obras por Ted Gioia

Associated Works

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) — Posfácio, algumas edições11,323 exemplares
The Analog Sea Review: Number Four (2022) — Contribuidor — 2 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Discussions

Ted Gioia em Other People's Libraries (Agosto 2021)

Críticas

This is grand fun. Gioia covers the history of song from ancient Greece and Egypt up through Spotify. It's almost all European music... for sure, how non-European influences have constantly revitalized European music, but nothing about e.g. how southern Indian music has revitalized northern Indian music etc. He certainly proposes this kind of outsider-insider dynamic as fundamental to the evolution of music, but his examples are all Euro-centric. Well, it's a big fat book already! Maybe we need a series of books to follow this one, to cover different musical traditions around the world.

I am a big fan of mathematical music. Gioia see mathematics as opposed to magic. I would say that mathematics is more a battleground itself, encompassing magic and chaos along with stable order. Actually it could be a grand fun project, to write a book parallel to this one, like Science and Mathematics: A Subversive History. To show how the same cycle of revolution and legitimization happens in science and math. Maybe Thomas Kuhn already did that.

Well this book of Gioia taps into deep waters in a very effective way. He doesn't exhaust or encompass the terrain, but he opens a gate. That's a lot!
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
kukulaj | 3 outras críticas | Mar 4, 2024 |
Good book for musicians that are already quite familiar with Jazz. The author deconstructs many of the key features of Jazz music, and how they evolve in time.

For myself, I love Jazz but am less interested in technical intricacies and have less of a listening repertoire this book is too abstract.
 
Assinalado
yates9 | 4 outras críticas | Feb 28, 2024 |
just for objective judgment, full and accurate.

On John Coltrane:

The variation of Coltrane's music is highly symbolic of the man himself, an insatiable explorer and compulsive self-studier. It is a life of self-improvement. A voracious reader, Coltrane read a wide range of books, from Aristotle to Edgar Casey, to be found on his shelves, notably The Autobiography of a Yogi, recommended by Sonny Rollins, and Krishnamurti's The Thing About Being Alive, recommended by Bill Evans. The insatiable desire for novelty is also evident in Coltrane's music. Long before world music became popular, Coltrane delved into the aural cultures of India, Africa and Latin America. Classical composers, especially contemporary classical composers, have been studied with equal enthusiasm. For rehearsals, Coltrane liked to use Slonimsky's Scale and Melodic Patterns. It was a fitting choice, since Coltrane and Slonimsky shared a common complex: familiarity with all scales of the twelve equal temperament. (Soon, many jazz musicians imitated Coltrane and began digging into Slonimsky; The publishers were puzzled by the sudden surge in demand for this rare book.) Other times Coltrane would use music composed for the piano or violin or harp as material for honing his saxophone skills in the rehearsal room, knowing that it would force him to broaden his musical horizons. He loved new instruments, new mouthpieces, new sheet music - anything that would benefit his library of sound material. Together with the equally progressive Steve Lacy, he revived the soprano saxophone as a mainstream jazz instrument after years of neglect. In private, Coltrane played other instruments, such as the zither and sitar (both of which he brought back on tour in Japan), and purists scoffed at his interest in the electric saxophone. You might not have predicted that the "introverted" glitter of Giant Footsteps would eventually evolve into the assertive "extrovert" enabler of Ascension, but once you've experienced Coltrane's unquenchable desire for personal development, it's no surprise to see the jazz giant's dramatic transformation.

On Billie Holiday:

Holiday's achievement is all the more remarkable given her limited talent. Her vocal range is an octave and a half at best. And her voice isn't penetrating enough - unlike Bessie Smith, who doesn't have a wide vocal range either, but can sing all the way to the back. Holiday also lacks Ella Fitzgerald's onomatopoeia skills, Sarah Vaughan's timbre purity, or Louis Armstrong's eeriness - but she has more than enough to make up for it. Her strengths lie in an unparalleled sense of timing, soft but unusually slack phrasing, and, above all, the ability to give lyrics a previously unknown depth of meaning. You might say Billie Holiday is a style singer, not a virtuoso -- unless emotional depth is also a type of virtuoso. Her performance goes straight to the emotional depths of the song, honing the heart rather than the surface of the music.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Maristot | 10 outras críticas | Oct 10, 2023 |
Fantastic book. I'd recommend this book to someone who has never listened to jazz before, or someone who has listened to over 100 jazz albums. Really anyone that wants a deeper appreciation of jazz.

I consider myself fairly experienced in jazz, but I learned so much in this book, particularly how to appreciate pre-bebop jazz, which I've always struggled with.

It's structured particularly well, covering the basics of jazz (rhythm, phrasing, improvisation, etc), then covering each genre/movement in jazz with a suggested listening guide for each genre, and covering the most influential musicians in jazz (Armstrong, Hawkins, Ellington, Holliday, Parker, Monk, Davis, Coltrane, Coleman) with a listening guide to those musicians.

Ted Gioia is a great writer, and I really enjoy the way he writes about music. Being a jazz musician and music critic for many decades probably helps with that, but he really seems to understand the amazing mix of emotions, and impressive technicalities that can happen when listening to the genre. He also just seems so incredibly knowledgeable, on every front. I will definitely be checking out more of his work.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Andjhostet | 4 outras críticas | Jul 4, 2023 |

Listas

Music (1)

Prémios

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Estatísticas

Obras
17
Also by
2
Membros
1,830
Popularidade
#14,060
Avaliação
4.0
Críticas
26
ISBN
87
Línguas
4
Marcado como favorito
2

Tabelas & Gráficos